2024: The HIS Fall Festival

Words by Ellie McGuire, Honoka Uchiya, and Dani Htut; Photos by Ellie McGuire

Introduction

On November 2nd, 2024, Hokkaido International School held its annual Fall Festival in celebration of the winter season to come. This festival included fun games, delicious food, and rocking music that were all mainly student-run. All the money, or "tickets," in this case, were saved to use for class trips and service — with the juniors planning for a service trip in the spring and other clubs looking for ways to help the community too. The HIS community was happy to see the number of attendees at the Fall Festival this year—a number that has been increasing for the past two years!

Games

A good festival will always have fun games involved in order to keep its participants entertained. In the case of HIS, most of our Fall Festival games were student-run, with around three to four people working together on one game. A week before the big day, the school had given each class of students a budget to spend on prizes and food supplies as the class would be split into either being a "game group" or being in a "food group". If a student was placed into a "game group", they would be in charge of designing a fun activity that would involve a point system, prizes, and entertainment for visitors. A popular strategy was for the members in a group to split into a pair that would buy the prizes and a pair that would come up with the overall idea of the game. By combining their efforts and working together efficiently, all groups were able to finish their games by the deadlines with time left over to fix any minor details.

On the day of the festival, the students came early to finish setting up their games for their final presentations. Hosted in the MPR, the place was bustling with kids and parents who were excited to participate and win some prizes! The games usually followed a premise of one ticket per try, with others offering deals such as an extra try if you paid five tickets. Some of the options available were activities such as bingo, ring toss, bowling, air hockey, and fishing which gave out prizes depending on how many points the player accumulated. Many kids had a great time participating in these games and it was a great opportunity for the secondary students to raise money for their class needs and for the school's planned service. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food

Up on the fourth-floor gymnasium of our school, the aroma of chicken, curry, sweets, and many other foods could be smelled. The gym had tables and chairs set up in the middle with food booths circling the perimeter of the room. The food booths ran on a similar system as the games: the students would make a reasonable price for their food and that amount of money would be paid in tickets. The gym was a popular spot for many as it provided a resting spot for those who may be tired or just want to sit down and chat with their friends for a while. 

The high school students were very impressed with the turnout of guests this year. Compared to many years below, the gym seemed to always be bustling with parents and kids alike. They were mostly always busy cooking up more food as the lines of hungry visitors grew by the minute. However, a shift system was devised beforehand where the students responsible for cooking would switch out after around an hour or two of work. This made sure that one person wasn't bombarded with all the work while not getting the extra helping hands they might need. Overall, the students were very happy with the turnout of tickets they gathered. By counting and confirming with nearby PTA members, all groups were able to acquire an adequate amount of money that would be saved for upcoming events and trips!

Music

To go with the enticing aroma of food, on the stage in the gymnasium live music was being played. First up were the Jazz Babies, Yumiko's, and Unchain BlueBird who played different renditions of Japanese songs. From jazz to pop, these bands covered different varieties of genres while making sure that the crowd was having a fun time listening along! After their songs were over, next up to the stage was Luke's band, a band consisting of high school students. Featuring songs from ZutoMayo, a popular Japanese pop singer, they sang and played passionately hoping to show the world the joy of sharing music with each other.

The last performances of the day were by our very own jazz band. All the members of this band were HIS students who are taught by Mr. Sugino, a musical teacher who specializes in instruments. From around the time of September, the students practiced for two months to show off their skills during this festival. Through hard work and dedication, they were able to perform smoothly and professionally to the crowd. Everyone did amazingly, and the crowd was ushering in how good everyone performing was. The music was a huge success in showing off how talented the members of our school community are!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

Altogether, this year's Fall Festival was a massive success! Both parents and kids had fun exploring all the special activities and foods the high school students cooked up for them to enjoy. At the same time, the students enjoyed this day of fun too: entertaining visitors, chatting with friends, and even exploring what other classes had done instead. A festival should be something that all can enjoy, even the people who may be running it. We are all happy with the outcome and hope that everyone had a good time attending. As always, we hope to see you next year as well!